Method to replace the traditional house vig with wild-card option

ABSTRACT

New method of eliminating and replacing the traditional house vig in a betting or wagering games involving comparative choices by introducing wild-card option or condition.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicants are claiming the benefit of a provisional patent applicationwith the same title, No. 61/999069, filed on Jul. 15, 2014.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTINGCOMPACT DISK APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of games. More particularly, thepresent invention is in the field of betting or wagering games involvingcomparative choices.

In traditional wagering games, a positive outcome on an even betgenerally yields the same amount of payout as the amount of entry fee orwager, less any applicable commissions for fee payable to the gameoperator. Such commission or fee payable to the game operator is calledthe vig, and generally is a percentage of the amount of bet or wager.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method to replace the traditional house vigwith a wild-card option or condition in betting or wagering gamesinvolving comparative choices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

No drawing is necessary to understand or implement the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Many types of betting or wagering games involve comparative choices. Forexample, fantasy sports or other fantasy games generally depend on thecomparative performance of two players or characters.

In such a game, a game operator will generally try to create roughlyeven comparative choices in order to have equal matching bets on eachside. A positive outcome generally yields the same amount of payout asthe amount of entry fee or wager, less any applicable vig amount payableto the game operator.

The vig amount can be a source of confusion and frustration for someparticipants in such game. The present invention is a method toeliminate and replace the house vig by means of an extra comparativeoption or wild-card condition built into the bet definition.

The new method can be illustrated by the following example. Suppose thatthe basic comparative choice is between the performances of twowell-known NFL quarterbacks during a given weekend. (Such performancecan be measured by means of points computed based on game statisticssuch as passing yards, passing touchdowns, and interceptions.) Alsoassume that the two quarterbacks have sufficiently close performanceexpectation that weekend. The game operator can introduce an extraoption or wild-card option with lower performance expectation, but withan additional payout bonus as incentive. The table below summarizes suchan example.

Quarterback Options Accepted Bets Payout Ratios including Bonus A $100 1to 1 B $100 1 to 1 Wild-card Option C Less than $20 10 to 1 

Given the choices and the payout ratios, the game operator can setthings up so that the accepted bets are in line with the amounts andproportions in the above table.

In the event that, as generally expected, either quarterback A orquarterback B has the best performance of the three options thatweekend, the game operator would have a net payout of zero for theaccepted bets on quarterbacks A or B. The game operator could then keepall the accepted bets on quarterback C as its fee or commission, ineffect replacing the traditional house vig by the amount of acceptedbets on the wild-card option.

In the event that quarterback C has the best performance of the threeoptions that weekend, the payout on that wild-card option is less than$200, which is the combined accepted bets on the two main options. Inthat case, the game operator could still have net profit in lieu of thetraditional house vig.

Instead of two players, the choices can be between two given fantasyteams, with an extra option in the form of a third team thrown in aswild card.

Hence, the use of such a wild-card option can generate a profit for thegame operator that is statistically equivalent to a traditional housevig. However, the profit generated by this method does not reduce theamount of winning collected by a winner, thereby simplifying the userinterface and minimizing any confusion or frustration from the reductionof winning amounts.

Another variation or implementation of this new method would be to add awild-card condition C to a standard comparative choice that says in theevent C happens, then all players lose. For example, in the aboveexample of a comparative choice between two quarterbacks, a wild-cardcondition C could be something like if both quarterbacks haveperformance scores below a certain threshold. In general, the wild-cardcondition C need not be correlated with the comparative choice, or evenconnected with the sport. However some correlation can generateadditional interest and introduce an additional element of skill andknowledge into the game.

While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one ofordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be thebest mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand andappreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents ofthe specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The inventionshould therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment,method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within thescope and spirit of the invention as claimed.

We claim:
 1. A new method to eliminate and replace the house vig,wherein a game operator would introduce an extra comparative optionwhose profitability is statistically equivalent to a traditional housevig.
 2. A new method to eliminate and replace the house vig, wherein agame operator would introduce a wild-card condition that could changethe outcome of a bet. Such a wild-card condition need not be correlatedwith the comparative choice, but could be chosen from a wide range ofthemes or topics in order to generate additional interest and introducean additional element of skill and knowledge into the game.